Hearts Of Emerald
by Aldrean Treu Peri
Summary: Hadji reflects on the love Jonny and Jessie share over the years.


**Hearts of Emerald**

Hadji watched with a sad expression on his face as Jonny chased Jessie down the length of the beach, carrying a bucket of water.  Before reaching her, the blond boy tripped and the bucket flew into the air, splashing him with water instead.  Jessie stopped running suddenly, her long red hair tousled and emerald eyes holding a mix of laughter and concern as she dropped to her knees beside Jonny.  Jonny, a full two years younger than Hadji and one-year Jessie's junior was gazing up at Jessie with his baby blue eyes glinting.  Hadji took a step forward, but stopped himself as Jonny splashed Jessie with the remainder, a small handful he had carefully preserved.  Even at only eight years of age, Hadji Singh knew what it felt like to be in love.  Jessica Bannon, full of energy and enthusiasm with a restless spirit and the lust to live life beyond its fullest, with her high, graceful cheekbones and golden laughter had captured his heart.

            Jonny was back on his feet, this time dashing away as Jessie gathered up the bucket and carefully loaded it with a mixture of mud and water, then, wearing a mischievous grin, quickly closed the space between herself and Jonny.  Hadji sighed softly and thought to himself how difficult it was to love someone who, though at this young age was still unaware, loved someone else.  It was painful to watch the subtle teasing and play of Jonny and Jessie, both always competing with each other and yet still so concerned over the other.  Neither conscious of the feelings they harbored for one another that Hadji saw so clearly.  A small, wistful smile surface on his face as the muddy mixture landed on Jonny, splattering as well on Jess.

Ten Years Later… 

Jessie laughed, the rich and vibrant sound bringing warmth to the chill, stark day as the three teens fought a war with snow outdoors.  Her emerald eyes twinkled brightly and her cheeks had a rosy cast similar to the shade of her hair.  A ball of snow caught her off guard in the chest, disintegrating almost as soon as it hit her and in a heartbeat she was hot on Jonny's trail.  Hadji himself was hiding in the lowermost branches of the great oak tree within the yard.  Jessie caught up with Jonny and threw herself into his arms, planting a kiss on his cheek before dashing away.  Hadji's unfortunate friend did not realize the full extent of her deviousness until he felt the snow slid down his shirt.  Hadji envied him for his special friendship with Jessica Bannon.  With Hadji it was more like he was her older brother, their friendship made that way by himself.

            Despite Hadji's feelings towards Jessie, even after he became aware of the crush she had had on him, the young heir did not act on his emotions.  Buried deep in her mind, lost amidst the fondness for Hadji in her emerald eyes, the Hindu scion could read her heart, lain bare in the depths of her glorious eyes.  She truly loved Jonathon Quest, and, while neither were prepared to admit to their mutual feelings, Hadji refused to deny his closest friends their unspoken, unrealized love.  He had made the ultimate sacrifice and forced himself to be to Jessie a kind of sibling, nothing more than a friend, though he saw the hurt in her eyes at first from that.  Whatever she had felt beyond friendship before was now gone and she looked to him instead with a special type of love and respect.

            Jonny meanwhile revealed his unconscious love for the spirited Bannon child in his actions for he had ever shielded his true emotions from his baby blue eyes.  He was constantly chasing Jessie and tackling her, barely able to administer tickling before their roles would reverse.  Dr. Quest's sole son continually fought a battle within himself concerning Race's daughter.  To Jonny, she was an anchor in the chaos of life, there to lift his spirits when he was down, to lend her endless strength when he was weak, to reassure him when doubts swarmed his mind and to share with him her boundless passion for living.  For Jonny, she would ever be there when a hug was required, or if he needed someone to sit with through the night.  Hadji saw this with his own heart as well as his dark eyes and would not be the one to crush the budding love of his closest friends.

            A clump of snow connected with his face and Hadji cried out, slipping half off the branch before the sound of childish laughter met his eyes.  Jonny and Jessie stood below him on a pile of snow.  "Come on, Hadji!" Jessie called, hefting another handful of snow in one hand half-hidden behind her back.  Sighing inwardly, he put a smile on and dropped from the tree to join the two in their mayhem.

Two Years in the Future… 

Hadji Singh took a deep breath and crouched down in the shadows of the living room, hidden from view of any who might enter.  He ignored the pounding of his heart and the slickness of his palms as he waited.  A soft feminine voice came then and Hadji felt his heart skip a beat.  If all went well, tonight he would forever lose the chance of having the owner of the voice for himself.  Jessica Bannon was leading Jonny to the living room where his father and hers waited in the darkness with Hadji and Bandit, Jonny's dog, for their arrival.  This night was very special for the teens, doubling as both their prom night and…

            "Happy Birthday Jonny!" Those hidden shouted, jumping up from their hiding places as the lights came on.  Bandit yipped excitedly and Jessie kissed the birthday boy's cheek as Dr. Quest and Race came forward with Hadji to offer their sentiments of affection, a shy hug from Benton and a hearty clap on the back from Race.

            Jonny appeared taken aback, he grinned hugely at all of them and struggled for words for a long moment.  "Uh…thanks guys." He finally managed, both happy and shaken at the same time.  He turned to Jessie.  "I thought you promised no surprise parties tonight."

            She laughed fondly and held up a gift wrapped in pale blue paper.  "You've just turned eighteen, how is that not an occasion to celebrate?  Besides, I lied." She handed him the present, but stopped him from opening the package.  "Not just yet, Quest, there are more surprises to show you." She nodded imperceptibly at Benton Quest and he pressed a button on a controller he held in his hands.  A large screen slid down from the ceiling, resembling a T.V. and the picture on it flickered several times before focusing in on a rather large group of people.

            Standing in front of what appeared to be a Mayan relic were Jessie's mother Estella, the crafty woman known as Jade, Hadji's mother Neela along with the falcon, Haresh and Pasha, the man who had taken Hadji in as his own until Dr. Quest adopted him.  Also present were Alicia Starseer, some of Dr. Quest's colleagues, Race's ex-girlfriends and several of the people the ex-Navy Seal had worked with whom Jonny had at some point met.  "Happy Birthday Jonny Quest!" All cheered then.  A few corks whizzed past the screen on the other end of the transmission and Estella stepped forward.

            "I hope you have a wonderful prom night, dear." She said to Jonny.  "Take good care of my only daughter there." She paused and turned to Jessie.  "Hi hun, I'm sorry I couldn't be up there with you on this special night, but you see what I had to arrange." She gestured back at the throng of people, all of who were shouting over who got to well-wish Jonny next.  "I guess I have to step back now, keep your father out of too much trouble, Jess.  Enjoy your birthday, Mr. Quest, after all, one only turns eighteen once.  I love you all!" She yelled at last, swept away to make room for the others.

            An hour later as the group all sang to him and they let Jonny and Jessie escape to the car, he remarked to his friend.  "I see now why I needed to be ready so soon." They laughed and Hadji, watching from the doorway felt his heart sink.  Race came up beside him and tossed the keys to Jonny, waving as the teens pulled away.  

            Race thumped him on the back briefly.  "Sorry to be out of school already?" He asked.  "I understand your prom went rather well last year." Hadji smiled and nodded.  "Ready to go in and help Benton with the system?"

            "I suppose so, Race." Hadji replied.  "They won't be home for some time now." He paused and shook his head in bewilderment.  "I do not understand though, if neither Jonny nor Jessie have official dates, then why did they just go as friends?"

            Race laughed.  "I'm not sure Hadji, but tonight might be the night when they finally take notice of each other." Hadji recalled vividly the gown Jessie had been wearing, a deep green nearly the shade of her eyes with a dipping neckline and spaghetti-straps, long enough to almost cover the front of her feet and trail a ways behind her.  Jonny had been decked out in a black tuxedo with a white undershirt and cummerbund and a black bowtie …entirely traditional.  

            "Perhaps they finally shall." Hadji repeated softly as his heart crumbled.

            *                                  *                                  *

Hadji heard the car doors shut and the key fit into the slot as the clock beside his bed stuck two.  He heard Jessie formally thank Jonny for a lovely night out and the two began to laugh, dropping their adult façades.  Silently, the Bangalore heir snuck to the foot of the stairs where he could fully make out the living room.  Jessie wore a red rose corsage and Jonny held a bouquet of roses the same color. 

            "You're birthday isn't over just yet, Jonny." She called as he started towards to stairs.  The blond looked back, puzzled.  "There is still a message you haven't read."

            "Who else could wish me a 'Happy Birthday'?  I thought that whoever hadn't been at your mother's site called already."

            "They have."

            "Then what are you talking about?"

            Jessie sighed softly and took his hand, her heart in her eyes.  "Just follow me, Jonny.  Trust me." Her voice was soft and held a note of peculiar sadness.  Hadji's heart felt for the two of his friends, for, like Jessie, he knew what was to come.  Jessie instructed Jonny to sit on the couch and took the controller Dr. Quest had used earlier.  She took her seat beside Jonny, breathed deeply and pressed PLAY.  The screen came almost instantly into focus and Jonny gasped sharply in recognition. 

            His mother, Rachael was on the screen.  Her hair was long and tawny, a darker shade of blond than Jonny's, but her eyes sparkled the same sea blue and the resemblance was so close to be uncanny.  A smile creased her face.  "Hello Jonny.  I know that if you are watching this video, then something must have happened to me.  Benton and I decided several months before you were born that we would never miss a day important to you, whether it be your birthday, prom night, or wedding.  This is my message to you on the day marking your eighteenth year of life." She took a breath and continued.  "Happy Birthday my darling, you are the very core of both my life and your father's.  You are our pride and joy and, though sometimes your father may not show it, he dearly loves you.  He is a shy man though," She laughed then, a silvery sound,  "You would not believe how long it took me to get him to open up to me.  I hope by now you have found someone special and that you have many friends.  You're probably the envy of all the guys.  I know so because you got your looks from me.

            "If this is coming to you because of something that happened to me, know that I will always love you, no matter how much time or distance separates us.  If I am gone, know that I miss you very much." A tear drifted down her face.  "Would you look at me?  Even thinking about being separated from you makes me sad!  I will forever be at your side, no matter the circumstances.  Take care of yourself, and tell your daddy that you love him every once in awhile.  I know that boys rarely say that to their fathers so I'm going to make you.  I love you, Jonathon.  Be well." The screen flickered once more and died.  Jessie held Jonny's hand very tightly and did not speak as silent tears flooded his eyes.  Without seeming to think about it, Jessie stood up and lowered herself onto Jonny's lap and pulled him close, resting her chin on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her waist and let his grief run its course.

            "Oh, Jessie, I miss her so much." He said in a quavering voice.

            "I know, Jonny.  We all do." Though she had never met Jonny's mother, Jessie had been with this family long enough to know what an important role she had played in the lives of the Quests and still continued to.  Jessie felt very close to the woman who had claimed their hearts.  

            After a long time, Jonny pulled himself together and looked deeply into Jessie's eyes, finally seeing in them what Hadji had seen all along.  "You know Jess, I think my mother would be pleased…I found my someone special." And their lips met and Hadji left as silent as he had come.  Tears of his own ravaging his face, he had lost her.

Four Years Later… 

Jonny nervously paced the hall outside of his dressing room, Race leaning against the doorframe with a curious expression on his face, a cross between understanding and smugness.  Both wore dark tuxedos, Jonny's hair for once brushed and his cummerbund a bit out of place, despite his continual tugging on it in effort to correct the problem.  Estella came up the stairs, looking Jonny over intently and fixing the cummerbund issue with a professional tug.  Her eyes flashed over to Race and they shared a glance that even Hadji couldn't read.

            "I suppose he'll do." She said after a moment, and then caught Jonny up in a tight embrace as hurt flooded his eyes.  "Only joking dear.  You are stealing my only daughter away today." Her expression changed.  "I knew your mother, Jonny." She said finally in a soft tone, her emerald eyes searching out the sea blue of Jonny's own eyes.  "She would be very proud of you today.  All grown up and about to be married." She wiped the tear from Jonny's cheek and turned to Race, gesturing with a tilt of her head for them to leave.  Estella and Jessie bore so much of a resemblance that it was hard to not think of them as twin sisters, especially considering that they were more like siblings than mother and daughter since Estella and Race divorced so many years ago.

            "How do I look, Hadji?" Jonny asked then, turning to let Hadji see the full effect.

            "Very mature, my friend." Hadji replied.  "Be calm, Jonny, Jessie would never approve if you were quaking in your shoes on the alter."

            Jonny laughed lightly.  "You're right, she'd revel in it." His face screwed up into a self-pitying expression.  "Forget I said that." He said quickly.  "Its just …I can't believe this day has come so soon.  It seems like only yesterday that we were throwing sand at each other in Palm Key, or having snowball wars here."

            "I understand, Jonny.  Jessie is probably feeling the same as you."

            A mischievous look entered Jonny's eyes.  "Could you do me a favor, Hadji?"

            Hadji had already lifted his hands up as if to guard against Jonny's request and backed away a bit.  "What?" He asked, eyeing his childhood friend.

            "I can't see Jess until the last possible moment, bad luck you know, so I was wondering …maybe you could go and see exactly how she is?" The by-now familiar wrench of Hadji's heart made him hesitate an instant before replying.  

            "I guess I could." Hadji said finally.

            "Thanks." Jonny breathed.  Hadji patted his friend on the back before heading down the stairs and hall to where Jessie was preparing for her big day.

            *                                  *                                  *

His timing was absolutely horrid, but there was no way he could wait until after the ceremony to tell Jessie how he felt about her.  He paused in front of her door and thought for several moments how to begin and what to say before finally giving up on any plans and simply knocking.  The door opened to reveal Jade, looking as right in a gown as she did in Tomboy clothes.  Her dark eyes glittered and she stepped back to allow him into the room.  

            "Who is it now?" Jessie asked almost regretfully from the other room.

            "It's Hadji dear." Jade replied and moved almost behind Hadji as Jessie flew out of her room and caught him up in a warm hug.  Jessie laughed, stepping back slightly and twirling almost girlishly to let him see her gown.  It was a rich creamy white with gauzy sleeves and golden lace accents.  The sleeves of her gown reached the back of her hand, stopping at the wrist on the underside and the bodice was cut into a low 'V' which revealed a bit more than Race would approve of.  Neither noticed Jade silently slip away.

            "Well?  What do you think?" Jessie demanded.

            "Jonny is a very lucky man." Hadji replied.

            "So you like the dress then?" Hadji nodded.  "What about my hair?" She asked then, one hand going absently to her fiery locks drawn up from her face.  Two enticing curls hung off to the side of her face with the majority of the wealth of her hair rested in an elaborate twist atop her head leaving the rest to go cascading down on one side and setting off the gown marvelously.  She quite literally tore Hadji's breath away.

            "It is …lovely." He finally managed, feeling a blush rise in his face.  He finally noticed that they were alone.  "Listen, Jessie, there is something I must tell you, and I know that my timing could not possibly be worse …but I feel you must know." He paused as Jessie laid a slender finger across his lips, her eyes intent on his face.  She lightly kissed his cheek, the gesture one of friendship and nothing more.

            "I know, Hadji.  I've known for quite a while, but I never knew just how to broach the subject.  But as much as I love you, and I do, understand, but in a very different manner than what I feel for Jonny, it all comes down to the unerring fact that I truly love him.  Don't speak yet, I'm not through.  Yes, I will admit to harboring feelings for you before that ventured on shattering the bonds of friendship we had, so I never acted on those.  I've grown up some from then and those feelings have settled into a kind of love very similar to that which Jonny and I share, but also very much different.  To me you are a brother, nothing more, nothing less.  I love you in the same manner as I love Dr. Quest, Jade, and Rachael, but any chances of something between the two of us are past.  I am not even sure if anything true in that manner of love existed between us.  I think what I had for you was what's commonly known as 'puppy love'." She took a breath and her eyes warned him to not speak up.  "Tell Jonny that I love him and to stop sending spies on me, and tell him that if he doesn't calm down, we may have to have Dr. Quest use a tranquillizer.  And tell your heart to move on, there will be someone very special for you before too long and I don't want you pining over me when she waltzes into your life." With that she gently pushed him to the door and shut it quietly.

            Hadji stood for a long moment in the hallway before finally trudging back up the stairs.  Something in what Jessie had said had lifted the weight from his heart.  He had loved her since he could remember, but perhaps she was right and it was time to move on.  After all, she was going to be married that day.  But something deeper within refused to let go of the emotions that clung to his heart and he knew it would carry on until the end of days.  He sighed and a smile surfaced on his dark features.  Still, it was pleasant to know that, in her own unique way, Jessie did love him, and though it would never be in the way he wanted, his heart would have to suffice with what it got.  As before in his life, he would endeavor to share in the joy of his adoptive family, and for perhaps the first time, he did so without feeling out-of-place with his emotions.  When he reached Jonny though, the same thing that had been present in Jessie's eyes was present in his and Hadji knew what true friends his were.


End file.
